Three Times for Kissing
by koishii-girl
Summary: Based on the Ecce Romani Textbooks! Ever since childhood, Flavia and Cornelia shared a deep, unspoken bond punctuated by longings, stories, and, in the most special of moments, stolen kisses. Femslash. Rated T for brief nudity and sensuality.
1. Childhood

**DISCLAIMER ****- Ecce Romani isn't mine. If it were, it would be less about a cart getting stuck in a ditch and more about... Well, you can imagine.**

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It started off with a naughty game when they were little girls.

In some quiet corner of Flavia's family's rustic villa, Cornelia would drape a shawl over her head and pretend to cook while Flavia, with a bedsheet hanging from her stocky limbs, would harangue a line of dolls, telling them to respect their elders. The two girls were _Mater_ and _Pater _then, and their dolls were their naughty little _filiae_. Once _Pater_ was done scolding her daughters, it would be time for dinner. _Mater_ would serve her porridge of leaves and water in a cracked bowl, which _Pater_ would pretend to sip and pronounce as being absolutely delicious. And then would come the best part. Indeed, it was what the whole game built up to: the _filiae_ would be laid in their beds, and _Pater_ would take _Mater_ in her arms and kiss her. Neither Cornelia not Flavia would ever forget the butterflies in their stomachs at those early moments. Their breath would quicken, and they were never quite sure when to stop.

The game would be over after the kissing; Cornelia, always the quiet one, would return home to sit on her bed and think alone, while Flavia would go tease the slaves in the kitchen, and not think at all.

Eventually, they played less with dolls. Pictures and words became their game. They would sit in the cool shade under the tall trees of the nearby forest and draw pictures with sticks in the soft earth. They drew people, mostly girls, and told each other stories about them. They didn't kiss anymore; they had gotten older and wiser about life.

It was under the forest's trees that Flavia had first pulled off her tunic and shown Cornelia something new: breasts. Cornelia had looked at them in awe and slight jealousy. She was still completely flat. It was unfair that Flavia, who had always been the more active and boyish of the two, would grow them first. "Can I touch them?" she asked softly.

"Sure," Flavia answered.

Cornelia reached out, but didn't touch. She drew back her hand, blushing. "I'm scared."

"Of what, silly? They're just breasts!" Flavia laughed. She grabbed Cornelia's hand and held it to the left side of her chest. "See?"

Flavia's breasts were still tiny. Cornelia could feel her heart beating quickly through them, and knew that her own was beating the same way. She looked up at Flavia's face, and saw that it was flushed. With pride, Cornelia assumed. She drew back her hand, saying, "They're very nice."

"Yours will come in soon, too." said Flavia, reading the jealousy on her face.

"And if they don't?"

"I promise you, they will!" Flavia threw her arms around Cornelia's shoulders and rested their foreheads together. "I bet yours'll be even nicer than mine!"

Cornelia smiled, looking into her eyes. "They'd better be." She paused, before saying, "I'm _Mater_, after all. I should have the nice ones."

Flavia remembered, and giggled. "Oh, that old game? Well, by that logic, I shouldn't have any at all." Then, she let go of Cornelia and pulled her tunic back on. "If I could give you mine, I would," she said flippantly, tying the tunic at her waist.

At that moment, Cornelia wanted very much to kiss her. But, the tunic was on and the moment had passed. As the sun was setting, the two raced back to their respective villas, where Cornelia sat in her room trying not to think, and Flavia paced around her family's villa listlessly, touching her own chest with a frown.

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**Keep reading, it's not over yet! Leave me a review, and I'll love you forever; I genuinely do want some feedback on this. I can review something of yours in exchange, if you like. Also, concrit is love!**


	2. Teenage Years

**DISCLAIMER ****- Ecce Romani isn't mine. If it were, it would be less about a cart getting stuck in a ditch and more about... Well, you can imagine.**

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Cornelia's breasts did eventually grow in. She didn't show them to Flavia, for though they were rounded and pretty, they weren't as impressive as Flavia's had grown to be. Around this time, she and Flavia began to talk about the men they would one day marry. Flavia always described the most brave generals and grandiose senators as her future husbands; Cornelia never quite knew what to say.

One morning, while Cornelia was helping her mother Aurelia pin up her hair, Cornelia asked her, "Mother, do I _have_ to marry a man someday?"

Aurelia didn't even look at her, continuing to stab at her head with a hair pin. "Yes," she said. Cornelia didn't ask anything else, she just held her mother's mirror as a strange feeling of sadness and resignation washed over her.

A few days later, Cornelia's father called her and her brothers in to his study and announced that they would be leaving for Rome as soon as possible. That night, Cornelia couldn't sleep. They would be leaving in the morning, and Flavia didn't know. Eventually, she made up her mind to go tell Flavia. She got up and pulled on her tunic.

While the sky was becoming light, the sun hadn't yet risen. Even the slaves were still asleep. As she slipped out of the front door, Cornelia marveled at the light mist that lay across the fields. She ran across them, through the mist, to Flavia's family's villa, and snuck in. Finding Flavia's room was easy enough; waking up Flavia was another matter. Flavia awoke with a yell, and Cornelia had to whisper consolingly to her.

Soon, the two girls escaped into the field. The sun was beginning to rise and they could hear slaves' voices from the two villas, but work wouldn't begin in the fields for a while yet. There was no time to run to the forest, so they couched among the growing wheat. Cornelia watched Flavia's face as she told her that she would be leaving soon. She saw Flavia's eyes fill with tears. "Oh, don't cry," she pleaded.

In response, the tears began to course down Flavia's face. "How can you expect me to not cry?" she asked angrily. "You're going to Rome, but I have to stay here! It's going to be so lonely…"

Cornelia, feeling helpless, hugged Flavia. Flavia put her arms around Cornelia's waist and pulled her closer, sobbing into her shoulder. Cornelia began to cry too, half in sadness, and half in awe at the glorious feeling of Flavia's body pressed against her own. So, the girls sat there and wept a while.

Eventually, Flavia ran a hand across her eyes and drew back. She cupped Cornelia's face with a hand. "You will write to me, won't you?" she asked.

Cornelia nodded. "I promise," she said, her voice shaking.

Flavia kissed her. This kiss was different to their childhood pecks; it was deeper, sadder, and salty from tears. Then, Flavia stood up, murmured a shaky little "Goodbye," and set off at a run towards her villa.

"Goodbye!" called Cornelia after her. She stood up and watched Flavia go before turning towards her own villa. The slaves would be in the field soon, and her family would be leaving in a few hours.

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**Continue reading for Chapter 3, the last chapter! Leave me a review, and I'll love you forever; I genuinely do want some feedback on this. I can review something of yours in exchange, if you like. Also, concrit is love!**


	3. Early Womanhood

**DISCLAIMER ****- Ecce Romani isn't mine. If it were, it would be less about a cart getting stuck in a ditch and more about... Well, you can imagine.**

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And, so, time passed, and letters changed hands.

Cornelia was lonely in Rome. She didn't have any girl friends there; her mother Aurelia was too protective to let her out in the city. She played alone, mostly, and read books. One of her favorites was a set of poems she stole from Eucleides, the old slave who used to teach her brothers. They were by a woman named "Sappho," and often described the beauty of Sappho's various friends. She would send copies of the best verses to Flavia sometimes, though Flavia rarely commented on them in her short letters. Despite this, every time Cornelia received one of Flavia's letters, she would read it in hope of a sign of having stirred Flavia's heart. Yet, it seems as it she never did, for when Cornelia sent Flavia,

_"…Then in my bosom my heart wildly flutters,_  
_And, when on thee I gaze never so little,_  
_Bereft am I of all power of utterance,_  
_My tongue is useless._

_There rushes at once through my flesh tingling fire,_  
_My eyes are deprived of all power of vision,_  
_My ears hear nothing by sounds of winds roaring,_  
_And all is blackness._

_Down courses in streams the sweat of emotion,_  
_A dread trembling o'erwhelms me, paler than I_  
_Than dried grass in autumn, and in my madness_  
_Dead I seem almost."_

In return she received, "That's very pretty. Sappho again, right?"

Cornelia despaired.

In anger, she would recite to herself,

_"That country girl has witched your wishes,_  
_all dressed up in her country clothes_  
_and she hasn't got the sense_  
_to hitch her rags above her ankles."_

Yet, nothing could make her stop thinking of Flavia.

Finally, Cornelia sent her a special, most important letter. This one contained no poetry, no stories of her brothers, or musings on life. It was an invitation, to Cornelia's own wedding to a man named Quintus Valerius.

Flavia arrived in the evening before the wedding. Cornelia was in her room combing her hair when she heard the news. Filled with a frantic delight, she ran to the front room of her family's house, still in her tunic with her dark hair flowing down her back. Yet Cornelia stopped at the door, staring in awe, for there stood Flavia: tall, strong, beautiful as Cornelia remembered, but elegantly clothed in a fine tunic and strophium, the clothes of a grown woman. Cornelia was almost afraid to greet her; she looked like a goddess while Cornelia still felt like a little girl.

Thankfully, Flavia took care of it. Exclaiming, "Cornelia!" she half-ran forwards and threw her arms around her stunned friend.

"Flavia!" gasped Cornelia, hugging her. Then, she looked her over, saying in a soft, wondering tone, "You look so gorgeous."

"You mean I didn't before?" laughed Flavia.

The two laughed, and then Cornelia led her to her room. She finished combing her hair as they chattered away. There were certainly enough things to talk about, what with the wedding looming up ahead. At dinner, Aurelia grilled Flavia on how her family was doing and whether she was to be married soon; Flavia was most happy to answer her questions, revealing that she had many suitors but would not be married for a while yet.

After dinner, Aurelia led Cornelia and Flavia to her room. There, the older woman unveiled Cornelia's wedding dress: The long white tunic and the flame-colored veil. She and Flavia dressed Cornelia in it. Cornelia looked at herself in the mirror and began to cry; the realization had hit her that she truly wasn't a girl any more. Flavia and Aurelia held onto her, consoling her as a few tears ran down their cheeks as well. Eventually, Aurelia managed to undress Cornelia and get her back into her everyday tunic. She asked Flavia to lead Cornelia to bed, as they should all should get a good night's sleep before the wedding.

It was quite late by then. Few slaves remained about the house. Flavia led Cornelia through the halls in silence, with her arm around Cornelia's waist. Cornelia let her head rest on Flavia's shoulder; she had stopped crying by then. Moonlight streamed in through the window by Cornelia's door, and they paused to look out of it at the silent street. Flavia finally spoke, saying, "The moon looks nice tonight."

"Yes," said Cornelia faintly.

Flavia waited a moment before continuing, "You are much prettier, though." She guided Cornelia away from the window and into the room. "Really," she said. "You looked like Venus herself in your wedding veil."

"I don't think Venus would have brown hair," Cornelia said softly, as she and Flavia sat down on the bed.

"Funny, I always thought she would," said Flavia. She paused for a moment before continuing. "Hey. You know all those poems you sent me, Cornelia?"

Cornelia blushed slightly and looked at the floor. Flavia lifted a hand to turn her face back towards her. "Listen, I have one for you now," she said.

"Is it Sappho's?" asked Cornelia.

Flavia smiled and began to recite,

_"Frankly I wish I were dead_  
_When she left, she wept_  
_a great deal; she said to me, "This parting must be_  
_endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly."_

_I said, "Go, and be happy_  
_but remember (you know_  
_well) whom you leave shackled by love."_

She paused, watching for Cornelia's reaction.

Cornelia stared at her, her brown eyes wide with surprise. Then, they softened and she smiled. She reached out for Flavia to hug her, but Flavia met her with a kiss instead. And this time, it was all sweetness and urgency. The sadness and childishness was gone, leaving only lips, wandering hands pulling at tunics, and love consummated at last.

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**THE END! I hope you liked it! **

******Leave me a review, and I'll love you forever; I genuinely do want some feedback on this. I can review something of yours in exchange, if you like. Also, concrit is love!**


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